The Walking Dread

The Walking Dread

Zombies as Social Commentary

As an ex-Walking Dead fanatic, while I read Dread Nation, I found many similarities between the two. The most obvious similarity is how zombies are used to show how damaging and ridiculous it is for people in a society to not work together, especially in times of hardship.

In The Walking Dead there have been many instances where the main group has encountered and had all out warfare with another group, usually because they like to live and handle the dead in different ways. In some cases there are valid reasons for warfare, but many of the reasons are just petty. Some members of opposing groups want nothing to do with fighting and still get wrapped up in it anyways.

While the group was temporarily staying with the Greene family, one of the group members (Shane) discovered that he was keeping zombies, that were once his friends and family, captive in the barn.

Instead of trying to reason with him or accept it so they can continue together as a united force, Shane decided to kill all of the zombies, turning Hershel Greene against the entire group.

Similarly, in Dread Nation, the powerful white Summerland residents would rather offer useless weapons and poor nutrition to black residents so they can't adequately fight the dead, than treat them as equals so that they can protect everyone. They are so fixated on race and maintaining inequality that they essentially allow themselves to be attacked and taken over by "shamblers" even though it could have been prevented. Much like in The Walking Dead, some white citizens such as the tinkerer did not agree with the way things were but could not do much to stop the fighting.

Both The Walking Dead and Dread Nation use zombies as a way to comment on how we as a society do not work together as much as we should, even in times where teamwork is vital. They also mention the struggle of individuals to overcome the will of the majority and work together regardless of what others want them to do. There is no use fighting over reasons as petty as race and thoughts about the dead when there are much larger issues to deal with in life. People are much more powerful when they are united and more vulnerable when they are fighting. While there are plenty of things in life to fight about, it's often better to let the little things go, especially in life or death situations.

Summing up my points in one gif: